The present invention relates to heat pipes, and, in particular, to automated heat pipe processing and the apparatus for such.
The prior heat pipe fabrication process relied upon a series of steps requiring packaging and repackaging between individual work stations and numerous inspections thereat. Following solvent cleaning, the heat pipe casing is assembled with transition joint fill tubes and temporary valves via manual tungsten inert gas (T.I.G.) welding. Manual fusion welding is the primary means of assembly to provide leak tight, pressure vessel soundness. This process alone accounts for up to 85% of in-processing failures, commonly requiring scrappage of the completed unit. In a series of high risk procedures, additional costs are incurred to prevent continued processing of defective hardware. As a result, 70% of the total fabrication cost has been expended prior to functional testing of the heat pipe. Additionally, the highest risk procedure, namely the fill tube pinch-off and manual (T.I.G.) seal welding is left as a final processing step. Numerous pipes fail irrepairably as a result of leak detection after this step alone.